When you walk into the Mount Rushmore complex there is an outdoor hall way that has all fifty state flags.  Pretty cool place.

The sculpture seems much bigger in person.

George is my personal favorite.

Crazy Horse memorial, the worlds largest sculpture, is not yet complete. 

When finished, it will be the size of thirty-five Mount Rushmore's. 

The humongous sculpture is a tribute to a Lakota Indian Chief named Crazy Horse. 

He is sitting atop his horse pointing towards the Indian burial grounds. 

He is quoted, "My lands are where my dead lie buried." -1877

Talk about a reminder that the white man dealt the Indians a raw deal.

I will never forget that quote.

The work was begun in 1948 by sculpture Korczak Ziolkowski at the request of the Native Americans.  Korczak died in 1982.  His wife Ruth and their family of ten children continue work on the memorial.  They have refused many grants from the US government with the notion that the government wouldn't finish correctly or give due diligents to the project.  It is strictly a privately funded and donation funded project.  A maximum of eight people are on the mountain working at any given time.   There is no projected finish date.  They have an amazing 40,000 foot Indian Museum and cultural center with theaters.  You ride a shuttle to get next to the mountain.  I most certainly will return in the future to check up on the progress.

I found this rock on a hike around my campsite in Southwestern South Dakota. 

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Sunset from my camp.  Deep in the Black Hills of South Dakota.   The air has turned crisp and the cliffs surrounding the campground quickly swallow up the sun light.  The wind begins to howl through my tent.  Excellent nights sleep.      

Does it get better than the Pacific Ocean?  I don't think so.  This photo was taken on the northern shores of California.  Ten or so miles from the Oregon border.

The beautiful California Coastline. 

There is something about when water meets Earth that just relaxes me.

I am reminded of the movie "Goonies" when I see this picture.

This monument is called Devil's Tower.  It is nestled in the grassy hills of northeastern Wyoming.  Roosevelt declared it a national monument in 1906.  It was made famous in the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".  Almost 1300 feet in the air, it was a rainy day when this photo was taken. The miserable weather negated my need to explore the area.  I will return some day and hike it thoroughly.

The very first United States National Monument.  Number one.

The monument is at least two hours from any interstate.  I chose to visit on a gloomy Tuesday afternoon.  Even on this cloudy day, I could see the tower fifty miles away.  Kinda eerie sitting there in the clouds. 

Coolest city I have ever been to.  Seattle, Washington. 

The Evergreen State really impressed me.

While in Seattle, I took in a Mariners game.  Safeco Field is a pretty cool stadium with a closing roof.  The home team beat the Red Sox in a shoot out.  I had a wildly good time.

A view from under the monorail in downtown Seattle.  You can see the Space Needle between the buildings.

Under the Space Needle.

Some metal art on the lawn beneath the Space Needle

A view from atop the Space Needle looking upon downtown Seattle.

Still up inside the Space Needle.  1500 feet in the air looking down at the Seattle Bay.

Two interestingly round buildings in downtown Seattle.

Read the sign.

This enormous metal man has a moving arm, hammering away in front of the Seattle Art Museum.

The town of Seattle is filled with random pieces of art.  Every street corner has something beautiful.

More city art.

Seattle Fountains, kind of...

The city of Seattle has a law that says all public building cost must include 1% for artistic beautification.  I believe that should be law everywhere.

Are you kidding me?  Fish swimming through trees?  I gotta move out here!

Random building in the middle of a run down part of downtown Seattle.  Industrial buildings with whales and mountains.  I love it.

Seattle, Washington

All together I spent four days in Montana.  My ability to fully comprehend "Big Sky" country was severally hampered by the massive thunderstorms that followed me for a week.  My average speed between stops must have been close to 85 mph.  I have a lead foot, especially when you don't see another car for hours on end.  Let's just say, desolate.

A gem of a town named Polson Montana.  I found this place on my way from GlacierNational Park out of Montana.  The town rests on the rocky shores of a large lake.  FlatheadLake is the bluest, most gorgeous lake I've seen.  Surrounded by mountains and on this particular day, heavy clouds.  I believe it was a little after 2pm when I took this picture.  The sun was consumed by overcast.  It seemed as if the entire city was blue.  I love the water.

The Columbia River Gorge.  Very peaceful.  Places like this will remind you that the most powerful thing on Earth is moving water.  The enormous gorge was carved out by the Columbia River, east of Seattle in WashingtonState. 

Pretty scenic shit, eh?  The clouds add some extra somber overtones, but hey, that was when I was there.

RedwoodNational Forest.  This particular tree they call "Family Tree" It is seven trees in one.  It has one trunk growing from the ground and six separate tree trunks growing from branches eighty feet up.  Said to be the only one on Earth.

These trees are stunning.  A forest of 250-300 foot trees.  They are called Sequoias.  The Northern California variety is the second largest in the world.  It is either Russia or China that has us beat.  I can't remember.  I do recall thinking they were just across the Pacific, so one of those eastern Asia countries.  Does it really matter?

There was a tree you could drive your car through for $22.  I got cheap and skipped it.  The walk through one was enough for me.

I approach Glacier National Park in Northwestern Montana.  I am told later that I was a month pre-mature in my travel dates.  The summer doesen't start until late June.

None the less.  The place was still beautiful.  I will always have a love affair with these kinds of mountains.

A stop along the winding road through Glacier.

Dead End?

I took this picture because I felt the curvy-ness of the road was visually stimulating.

To show a nice summer day. 

I had to steal these two photos from the Glacier national Park website.

I am a sick man.  I am sick with tree love. 

Driving east from the Northern California coast line, I stumbled across a rainbow.  Those things scare me a little.  What else is out there that we can't always see?

JoshuaTreeNational Forest.  The most unique place on Earth.  The park is 60 miles by 40 miles and surrounded by a small mountain chain in Southeastern California.  The place is covered in huge round boulders.  Heaven for the novice rock climber.

A place that surrounds you with odd and strange things.  Perfectly named Joshua.

Did we land on Mars?

My brother and I climbed every inch of the rocks in these next four photos. 

A superb afternoon that was. 

I call this "moon over joshua"

This is an actual "Joshua Tree" They are pretty ugly really.  Looks like a mix between a cactus and a palm tree.

Baker Damn in Joshua Tree National Forest. 

A flat, endless, road to nowhere.  Across the desert and to the Grand Canyon.

The Grand Canyon.  The biggest place you will ever be.  The question being, what made this?

The answer being:  The Colorado River.  Once again we are shown the power of moving water.

"It's only the biggest God damn hole on Earth!" -- Clark W. Griswold

This photo is the northern most section of the Grand Canyon.  Quite a bit smaller then the Southern Ridge.

Hoover Dam.  The biggest dam in the entire damn world. 

A view from atop the dam.

Zoom-Zoom.....Downtown Manhattan Island, New York City, New York.  No place like it.

I would bet money this place is in the top two or three for most taxi's per square mile.

15-yellow   8-white   3-red   2-grey   1-blue,green,black

Are you supposed to stand in the middle of the road

in downtown Manhattan and take pictures?

It really is amazing that we can build places like this.

A lonly dirt road along the small mountain chain that surounds Reno Nevada. 

Washington.  The Evergreen State.  It's on the license plates and true to the general "green" of the state.  Everywhere you go, something is growing.  Off ramps, sky scrapers, waterfront, parking garages, everywhere is lush green vegetation. 

More Seattle street art.

The start of the infamous dirt road trek through RenoNevadas treacherous mountains!! 

Dun, dun, dunnn....

A nice old man named Ray lives at the end of this road.  In Odessa Missouri.

Swope Memorial Golf Course, Kansas City Missouri.  I believe it to be the most beautiful public course in KC.  Lots of huge trees, not much rough.  Full of grand rolling hills in the middle of Swope Park.  On certain holes you are higher than the tree line and can see the city skyline off in the distance.  

Swope again.  The man on the right side of the picture is my father.  The crazy bastard always walks, never uses a cart.  He is either too cheap for the extra $13 to get a cart or enjoys lugging clubs up and down emmence hills for excercise.  I'm not sure which.  Probably a little of both.

Moonrise from my back porch

I have an unhealthy infatuation with all celestial objects.

Wednesday afternoon at a pond near the edge of Grain Valley Missouri.

It's 92 degrees.  My buddies Wes and Mike, along with Mike's 4 year old son Michael, and I are camping today.  It is sweltering hot, but we stuck it out.

Mike and Wes, baking in the June sun.  Thanking the good Lord for ice chests full of beer. 

Michael Grady McLaughlin Jr.  First camping trip, ever.

Dusk in a field with a tent and three pick-up trucks.  It's still in the high eighties at sundown.  The sick part is we all live less than ten minutes from this field.

Reflections of trees

A tree with no leaves................

When I was younger, we used to play endless hours of war in these fields, around this pond.  I have camped in these pastures more times than I can count.  Never at this exact spot though.  This photo struck me as symmetrically pretty.  There is something spectacular about reflections from water. 

Everytime I get to golf in Reno, it looks like this.  In a town that rarely has whether, it seems strange to always have a storm looming when I play golf.  Never before had it rained on us, just threatened, this time is sprinkled.  We drank through the inconvenience.

The begining of the Tahoe Rim Trail on a beautifil afternoon that I hiked eleven miles

 Doin a little hiking, feelin' the flow.  Great exercise and in a couple of hours,

I'll be able to see the bright blue of Lake Tahoe.

"Where does it go?"      "It goes up"

The trail has been comprimised and I must tip toe across.

My new logo.

Near the top, I can see the crystalk blue lake below...

Agua, muy nessesito

The next day, brother Jacob joins me for another hike on the Tahoe Rim Trail. 

I tell Jake to strike a pose, he does.

Jake tells me to strike a pose, I do. 

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Going back down the mountain

Burr Oaks nature trails, Blue Springs Missouri

Hiking through Burr Oaks, I encounter some rocks overhanging the trail.

To the right is North.  Moss grows on the north face of rocks and trees.  Little hiking nugget.

In late 2005 I drove down to Mississippi and Louisianna after huricanne Katrina hit.  I was paid to haul down 30 foot campers for FEMA.  I made two trips and saw some crazy destruction.  This is the staging area for FEMA.  Really just a huge field with campers lined up as far as the eye can see.   It's been weeks since Katrina, but the sky does look ominous.

Row upon row of campers, deep into the field.

On my second trip down I tried to get into New Oleans to see some of the devestation or possibly help in the aid.  The army had New Orleans blocked off, but the area next to it was not.  This building is in a town called Jefferson Parish.  I gained entry by the Army guy seeing my FEMA sticker in the window and assuming I was suppossed to be there.  I was not, But I drove around, took pictures and slept in my truck in a church parking lot.

Denny's and LaQuinta Hotel signs blowed down.  I know the right way to say it, but it's more fun to say blowed down.  Lots of stuff was blowed down in Jefferson Parish.

Front yard getting blowed away with the tree.

Amoco Station...not open for business.

Too bad is wasn't a Wal-Mart.

I took the long route through Arkansas on my way back.  An older guy at the RV place told me it was beautiful country to drive in.  I would have to agree.  On my way, I stopped at the Clinton library and spent the afternoon.

Pretty big complex.  Real modern and spacious.

Fountains and cool architecture make for an enjoyable walk around the building.

Present Clinton's Library

Top floor of the library.  Each bay illustrates a time frame in Bubba's life.

Rail Road to no where.